238 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 31, 1863. 



The whole of the varieties in the garden at this period were 

 forty-eight. These were introduced into the gardens of England 

 at the following times — one came from China to France in 1789, 

 and was brought to Kew from Paris in 1790 ; Beven from Sir 

 Abraham Hume, between 1798 and 1808 ; one from Mr. Evans, 

 in 1802 ; one by Capt. Bawes, in 1816 ; one by Capt. Larkins, 

 in 1817 ; one by Messrs. Brookes, in 1819; one by Mr. Reeves, 

 in 1824 ; two from whom not known ; four are English sports ; 

 and the remainder were sent from China by the Society's agents up 

 to 1824. Mr. Colville, a nurseryman at Chelsea, sent to the Society 

 a sport in 1822, of a pale Pink, grown from the Changeable 

 Buff; colound plates of several varieties of which were shown 

 — viz., the Early Blush, Parks' s Small Yellow, Blush Ranun- 

 culus, the Taeselled Yellow, the Changeable Buff, the Curled 

 Blush, the Tasselled Lilac, and Two-coloured Red, the Pale Buff, 

 the Windsor Small Yellow, the Clustered Yellow, the Clustered 

 Pink, the Semi-double Orange, the Starry Purple, the Golden 

 Lotus, the Brown Purple, the Two-coloured Incurved, the Late 

 Quilled Yellow, Waratah, the Yi-llow Indian, the Double White 

 Indian, the Small Yellow, the Quilled Pink, the Semi-double 

 Pink, the Semi-double Quilled Orange, aDd the Pale Purple. 



Mr. Munro, in a paper read before the Horticultural Society, 

 in. January, 1826, saj s — " Since the establishment of the 

 Society in the year 1818, considerable attention has been paid to 

 the culture of this plant, and the improvement is so great in its 

 appearance that it rivals those grown in its native country." 

 He then gives his mode of treatment, and I find his directions 

 differ in a very trifling degree from what is generally practised now, 

 both as regards compost and supplying liquid manures ; and I 

 have no doubt that in those days, had he possessed our present 

 improved varieties, he would have grown them as fine. He 

 speaks of a Mr. Joseph Wells as ihe best grower of that day, 

 and recommends thinning the buds and watering with liquid 

 manure aB practised at the present day. On account of their de- 

 licacy, the idea of growing them in open borders was abandoned, 

 except against south walls, while we have improved varieties 

 sufficiently acclimatised to flower freely in the open borders. 



The hest mode of managing Chrysanthemums in the border 

 I have found to be the following :— Remove the plantB after 

 cutting them down, and put them in close together in a sheltered 

 part of the garden, covering them with a framework of thin laths 

 to guard them from frost. When sufficiently grown — say 

 4 inches long, take off the suckers, and put them in small pots 

 in light, sandy loam, on a south border, in rowB, protecting them 

 from the frost, and giving just enough water to keep them 

 growing. If you can put them in cold frames bo much the 

 better. Then dig up the border 2 feet deep, mixing a little rotten 

 dung with a good dressing of fibrous, turfy loam, aud fork-in 

 8 or 9 inches deep. Let it lie rough for the winter to sweeten ; 

 plant out in the end of March, if the weather is favourable, 

 giving to each plant a good handful of cocoa-nut fibre, which 

 keeps the worms from it till it is well rooted. Plant the strongest 

 suckers 2 feet apart, taking care the sparrows do not peck out 

 the crown. Take off all side laterals as they throw out, till they 

 show the second flower-bud. In July reta : n the three shoots 

 thrown out from the crown, and take off all side shoots from the 

 three branches as before till the flower-bud shows itself. Mulch 

 the borderB in August with cocoa-nut fibre, leaf mould, or rotten 

 dung. Water with weak liquid manure from the 1st of AugUBt 

 till they show their colours, and do not allow the plants to starve 

 for want of plain water, as this throws them back, and when 

 recovering they are apt to make a second growth, which prevents 

 them blooming so early. 



Cover them over the first week in October, to guard against 

 frost, and if you have a frame and can put on glass they will 

 bloom much finer and cleaner than with canvas. All buds not 

 showing colour in October are of little use, as they seldom come 

 to maturity in November, and it is generally so cold that the 

 work must all be done in September and October, for border- 

 blooming. If against south walls they will bloom much finer, 

 ae they are not so liable to the draughts as under canvas. If 

 grown in eight-inch pots they must be treated in the same 

 manner as in borders, except that they require a stronger liquid 

 manure with good drainage ; and if the water do not pass freely 

 through, force through the mould a thin wire all over the pot, 

 to open a drainage. 



Now for a few words regarding the Pompon, or Chrysan- 

 themum indicum florepleno. About the year 1845, Mr. Fortune 

 brought to the Society's gardens from Chusan a small semi- 

 double, reddish, or light brown Chrysanthemum, which he called 



the Chusan Daisy, on account of finding it at Chusan. The 

 Society propagated it, and distributed it among its members. 

 Thence it was carried to France, and came into the hands of 

 M. Leboie, of Paris, an ardent lover of the Chrysanthemum. 

 He seeded it, the climate being better adapted for ripening the 

 seed than that of this country. From the seed thus obtained he 

 raised a great many beautiful varieties of various colours, some 

 of them exquisitely formed, and perfectly symmetrical, and, 

 consequently, the majority of our present collections came from 

 this source, having been obtained by Mr. Salter, of Hammer- 

 smith. Still, I find coloured plates of beautiful Pompons in the 

 Society's " Transactions," ae far back aB February, 1821. 



The French gave it the name of Pompon, on account of its 

 small compact bloom, resembling the tuft or pompon on a 

 soldier's cap. 



The following is the method adopted by me in the culture of 

 large varieties in five-inch pots, from cuttings in June: — Last 

 year I purchased all Mr. Salter's and Mr. Bird's new varieties. 

 They were delivered to me in May, and I planted them out in 

 the borders on receiving them, and allowed them to become 

 naturalised to the smoky atmosphere for three weeks, which 

 brought them up to the first week in June. I then took the tops 

 off 3 inches long, and put the cuttings into 60-sized pots, one in 

 each pot, draining the pot with a little cocoa-nut fibre, and 

 filling up with mould composed of half light loam and half 

 silver sand. I then plunged the pots in the front of a Cucumber- 

 frame, of the temperature of new milk, and shaded for a fortnight, 

 giving a little watering occasionally. By the 1st of July they 

 were well rooted. I then repotted them into five-inch pots 

 drained with cocoa-nut fibre, the compost being two-thirds 

 fibrous maiden loam from Epping Forest, one-third rotten dung, 

 and one-third decayed leaf mould, pressing the mould firmly 

 round the sides of the pot. I then put. them in a cold frame for 

 nine days with a little air to harden them off, and afterwards 

 removed them to a sheltered, sunny spot for three weeks, attend- 

 ing to the watering, and every evening syringing the foliage to 

 wash off the fallen soot, and keep off insects; 



At the end of three weeks I plunged them three parts down in 

 the front of the border, making the hole much deeper than the 

 pot in order to obtain a free drainage. I then commenced 

 giving weak liquid manure, composed of horse, Bheep, and cow 

 dung, all mixed together in a tub, and this I continued to follow 

 up till they showed the colour of the flower. As soon as they 

 began to show and throw out then' side shoots I picked these 

 out, and continued to do so till they showed their flower-bud, 

 which was in the end of August. When the bud was properly 

 formed I took off the side Bhoots On each side of the bud, where 

 the bud looked healthy and promising ; but I was obliged 

 to let several go on to the second shoot. These did not bloom 

 quite so early, but all did very well. The average height was 

 18 inches, with healthy foliage to the rim of the pot, and the 

 blooms as perfect and nearly as large as those plants in the 

 borderB with unlimited space for growth. They bloomed in the 

 first week in November, and attracted more notice than all the 

 other flowers on account of the short foliage. 



This system of growing large, well-shaped blooms in small pots 

 would give very attractive specimens for exhibitions, and they 

 might afterwards be brought into use for decorating greenhouses 

 or cottage windows, and be kept in bloom for a month, and it is 

 far preferable to cutting the bloom off to show, and afterwards 

 perish in a day or two. Some of the best varieties to grow for 

 this purpose are, of the larger kinds — Antonelli, Cardinal Wise- 

 man, Her Majesty, Lord Palmerston, Princess Alexandra, 

 Talbot, Cherub, Dido, Duchess of Wellington, Dupont de 

 l'Eure, Emily, General Harding, General Slade, Globe, Ion, 

 Jardin des Plantes, Julia Grisi, Lady Harding, Little Harry, 

 Lord of the Isles, Madam Lebois, Marshal Duroc„ Nil Despe- 

 randum, Novelty, Plutus, Raymond, Rifleman, Spirkler, VeBta, 

 and Yellow Perfection. Of the small kinds, or Pompons — 

 Fairest of the Fair, Julia Engelbach, Lilac Cedo Nulli, Cedo 

 Nulli, Golden Cedo Nulli, Andromeda, Bob, Christiana, Helene, 

 Graziella, Jessie, Mies Julia, Mustapha, Sainte Tha'ie, and 

 Pyramidalis. 



If the grower prefers a quantity of blooms instead of very large 

 single oneB, the flower-bud should be taken off, and the stopped 

 side ehoots allowed to remain. These will produce seven or 

 eight blooms, but they will not flower as soon as the single 

 bloom. 



SEEDIN& THE CHEYSAHTHBM0M:. 



The following mode I saw practised in Guernsey, where I went 



